Sam Kass: First Lady Will Achieve Goal Of Eradicating All US Food Deserts By 2017

As Mrs. Obama travels to Chicago for the first-ever Let's Move! food desert summit, the White House is confident that her efforts will encourage a rapid transformation in America's food system...
UPDATE: CLICK HERE for a full post about the food desert summit
On February 9, 2010, when First Lady Michelle Obama launched the Let's Move! initiative, she announced that eliminating the estimated 6,500 food deserts that exist in America in just seven years would be a pillar of her childhood obesity campaign. Today, with a little more than five years left to meet that goal, the White House is confident that it will "absolutely" be achieved, according to Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives Sam Kass. The First Lady and Kass will be in their hometown of Chicago today for the first-ever Let's Move! food desert summit, co-hosted by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, formerly Chief of Staff for President Obama. (Above: Mrs. Obama shops at the Farmers Market BY The White House in 2009, one of the many food access projects she has supported. Kass is behind the tent pole)

"I firmly believe we can meet that goal," Kass told me during an interview. "We're seeing amazing energy around the issue and communities really starting to begin to tackle this in ways that make sense to them."

Food deserts are impoverished rural and urban areas that do not have easy, close access to supermarkets, and achieving Mrs. Obama's goal will of necessity create a sweeping transformation in the national food supply chain that will alter the food shopping habits--and theoretically drop the obesity rate--of what the White House says are the 23.5 million Americans who currently live in food deserts (this number includes 6.5 million children). As she made her pledge--the first of its kind from any White House--the First Lady admitted that it was "ambitious."

Mrs. Obama is well on her way, however. In July, she announced commitments from major grocery corporations, including America's largest grocer, Walmart, and America's largest pharmacy chain, Walgreens, to build or transform as many as 1,500 grocery stores in food deserts over the next five years. The new stores--and outlets that have been revamped to include things like fresh and cut produce-- will offer healthy foods cheek by jowl with the standard fare of processed and junk foods.

"That will impact about 9.5 million people and tackle about forty percent of the nation's food deserts in one announcement alone," Kass said.*

Mrs. Obama is today expected to unveil a new food access commitment involving farmers markets and local sourcing from the Walgreens corporation, when she speaks at 2:45 PM at a Walgreens store located at 11 East 75th Street in Chicago. The store is one of the prototype food desert revamps, and now offers healthy foods alongside its pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and paper products.

The First Lady, US Mayors, and Let's Move!...
But with the clock ticking toward 2017, more needs to happen rapidly: Building or altering thousands of markets, and creating other food access initiatives such as farmers markets, needs an aggressive push, and focused leadership at the local level. To that end, eight Mayors from across the US were invited to the summit, to meet with Kass and other Administration officials.

"Our message is that Mayors have a real responsibility here, and a real opportunity and ability to have a significant impact," Kass said. "Without the support of Mayors, communities will not be able to overcome these challenges."

The White House also wants to hear from the Mayors about "what's happening on the ground," what has worked in their communities and what hasn't, Kass said.

"We're looking to highlight the role of Mayors and really identify the best practices they can have in their communities," Kass said.

The invited Mayors include Joseph Curtatone of Somerville, MA; R. T. Rybak of Minneapolis, MN; Mick Cornett of Oklahoma City, OK; Heather Hudson of Greenville, MS; Willis "Chip" Johnson of Hernando, MS; Manuel Lozano of Baldwin Park, CA; Tom Barrett of Milwaukee, WI; and Stephanie Rawlings-Blake of Baltimore, MD.

All have created policies in their communities to combat obesity or improve food access and affordability. For instance, in Baltimore, Mayor Rawlings-Blake has the The Baltimore Food Policy Initiative, which focuses on improving food access and affordability. She's also created the "value-to-vacants program," which allows the use of vacant lots for urban farming and farmers markets. In Somerville, Mayor Curtatone has a mobile farmers market, a food truck that has been making twice-weekly visits to a large housing project. In Oklahoma City, Mayor Cornett made national headlines when he put himself--and his entire city--on a diet, and created a website to track the collective progress.

Mrs. Obama has been wooing Mayors since before she formally launched the Let's Move! campaign; in January of 2010, Mrs. Obama "previewed" her anti-obesity initiative during an address to the US Conference of Mayors. A month later, Mayor Johnson and Mayor Curtatone, who will attend today's summit, joined the First Lady at the White House for the official launch of the Let's Move! campaign. Both Mayors spoke at the event.

In Chicago, Mayor Emanuel has rapidly emerged as a model local Chief Executive for best-practices in urban food policy. The lessons of Let's Move! were well learned by Emanuel during his time at the White House, and he continues to get guidance from his former colleagues, according to Kass.

"Obviously we've been in close communication with him on everything," Kass said.

Inaugurated last May, Emanuel campaigned on a platform that included components of the Let's Move! initiative. This summer, he convened a meeting of grocery CEOS in Chicago to discuss food deserts, and it was he who was responsible for getting the Deerfield, Illinois-based Walgreens to step up with its food desert pledge. Under Emanuel's guidance, the Chicago City Council recently retooled zoning restrictions to allow for urban farms and to create more opportunities for vendors to sell locally grown produce.

Today's roundtable for the Mayors will begin at City Hall, and later they will go to the 7-acre Iron Street Urban Farm, at 3333 S. Iron St. It is the Chicago headquarters for Growing Power, the pathbreaking city farm created by urban agriculture expert Will Allen in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The farm grows fresh produce through all four seasons.

Mrs. Obama will tour the project with Mayor Emanuel at 3:50 PM, after she delivers her remarks at the Walgreens store.

Other Administration officials traveling to Chicago to meet with the Mayors include Let's Move! Executive Director Dr. Judy Palfrey; HHS’s Assistant Secretary for Health Dr. Howard Koh, and Matt Josephs with the US Department of Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, which has made grants of $25 million to food desert projects under the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI), a fund that finances grocery markets and other food-access projects. IFF, a Chicago-based non-profit lender, was one of the awardees, and received a $3 million grant.

The First Lady's time in Chicago is sandwiched between fundraisers for her husband's 2012 re-election bid. Before arriving in Chicago, Mrs. Obama will speak at a 12:55 PM Democratic National Committee reception in Detroit, at the Westin Cadillac Book. In the evening, at 6:40 PM, Mrs. Obama will deliver remarks at a Democratic National Committee reception at Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Union hall, 1340 W. Washington Blvd. A detailed schedule is here.

The First Lady returns to the White House on Tuesday night.

*1,500 is not 40 percent of 6,500.

*Photo by Samantha Appleton/White House

First Lady's Chicago Food Desert Summit Is Sandwiched Between Campaign Fundraisers

East Wing announces addition to Mrs. Obama's schedule...
UPDATE, Oct. 25: CLICK HERE for a full post about the summit
First Lady Michelle Obama will attend a fundraiser for President Obama's 2012 re-election campaign mid-day on Tuesday in Detroit, Michigan before traveling to Chicago, Illinois for her Let's Move! food desert summit. The East Wing announced the event as part of Mrs. Obama's schedule for the first time on Monday evening. Mrs. Obama will attend a fundraiser after the food desert event, too, in the evening in Chicago. That event was previously announced as part of the First Lady's schedule.

At 12:55 PM on Tuesday, "Mrs. Obama will deliver remarks at a Democratic National Committee reception in Detroit covered by a print pooler," the East Wing said in its evening media guidance. The even will be held at the Westin Book Cadillac. President Obama visited the Detroit area on Oct. 6th, with President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea.

At 2:45 PM, Mrs. Obama will deliver remarks in Chicago for the food desert summit. "Mrs. Obama will be delivering the closing remarks for a mayoral summit on access to healthy, affordable food," the East Wing said. The First Lady will do so at a Walgreens store located at 11 East 75th Street. She will be joined by the 8 mayors who have been invited to the summit.

The Mayors will have spent their day in Chicago meeting with Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives Sam Kass and other Administration officials involved with the Let's Move! campaign.

At 3:50 PM, Mrs. Obama will tour Iron Street Urban Farms, a 7-acre site on Chicago’s South Side that "produces local, healthy, and sustainable food year-round." She will be joined by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who first announced the First Lady's visit to the Windy City last week.

At 6:40 PM, Mrs. Obama "will deliver remarks at a Democratic National Committee reception in Chicago," the East Wing said. The fundraiser is at Chicago Journeymen Plumbers Union hall, 1340 W. Washington Blvd.

The food desert appearances are Mrs. Obama's first public events in Chicago since becoming First Lady. The names of the invited Mayors were announced today.

Eight Mayors Invited To First Lady Michelle Obama's Food Desert Summit In Chicago

Sam Kass: "Our message is that Mayors have a real responsibility here, and a real opportunity and ability to have a significant impact..."
UPDATE: CLICK HERE for a full post about the summit
First Lady Michelle Obama will be in her hometown of Chicago on Tuesday for the first-ever Let's Move! summit on food deserts, joined by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The East Wing has just released the names of the eight Mayors invited from across the country to participate in a roundtable on food access with Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives Sam Kass and other Administration officials. The Mayors come from both urban and rural communities; the White House says that 23.5 million Americans live in what USDA estimates is 6,500 food deserts in the continental US.

Kass told me in an interview that the White House has invited the Mayors in order to get insight into "what's happening on the ground" in their communities; there will be a discussion of community-based anti-obesity and food access policies that have worked and policies that have not.

"We're looking to highlight the role of Mayors and really identify the best practices they can have in their communities," Kass said. "Our message is that Mayors have a real responsibility here, and a real opportunity and ability to have a significant impact."

The invited Mayors: Joseph Curtatone of Somerville, MA; R. T. Rybak of Minneapolis, MN; Mick Cornett of Oklahoma City, OK; Heather Hudson of Greenville, MS; Willis "Chip" Johnson of Hernando, MS; Manuel Lozano of Baldwin Park, CA; Tom Barrett of Milwaukee, WI; and Stephanie Rawlings-Blake of Baltimore, MD.

Mayor Johnson and Mayor Curtatone joined Mrs. Obama at the White House on Feb. 9, 2010 for the official launch event of the Let's Move! campaign. Both spoke at the event.

"Without the support of Mayors, communities will not be able to overcome these challenges," Kass said.

It is Mrs. Obama's first trip to her hometown in which she will hold a public event as First Lady, and she will make remarks from a Walgreens store located at 11 East 75th Street in the afternoon. After, Mrs. Obama will tour Iron Street Urban Farms with Mayor Emanuel, a 7-acre site on Chicago’s South Side that "produces local, healthy, and sustainable food year-round," according to the East Wing.

Joining Kass and the Mayors for their discussion on access to healthy food will be Let’s Move! Executive Director Dr. Judy Palfrey, HHS’s Assistant Secretary for Health Dr. Howard Koh and Matt Josephs with the US Department of Treasury’s Community Development Financing Initiative Fund.

In July, Mrs. Obama announced that Walgreens, as well as SUPERVALU, Walmart and independent regional retailers will be opening or expanding more than 1,500 stores to serve approximately 9.5 million people in communities that currently lack access to healthy and affordable foods, including fruits and vegetables. The Walgreens where Mrs. Obama will speak is one of ten prototype stores that has added fresh produce and other healthy foods to its offerings.

In the evening in Chicago, the First Lady will attend a fundraising event for President Obama's re-election bid.

Mayor Emanuel announced the First Lady's visit last weekend.

*Photo by Eddie Gehman Kohan/Obama Foodorama

First Lady Michelle Obama Will Spotlight "Food Deserts" During Visit To Chicago

Let's Move! with Mayor Emanuel: First Lady will hold "summit" with US mayors to discuss food access issues, visit upgraded Walgreens store, tour urban farm...
UPDATE , Oct. 25: CLICK HERE for a full post about the summit
As part of her campaign to end childhood obesity, First Lady Michelle Obama has pledged to eradicate "food deserts"--areas where there is low or no access to healthy food--from the US by 2017. The East Wing on Wednesday night released a partial schedule for Mrs. Obama's Tuesday, Oct. 25th trip to Chicago, where she will join Mayor Rahm Emanuel for a series of events focused on the topic. It is Mrs. Obama's first trip to her hometown in which she will hold public events as First Lady, and she will tour two model projects and meet with Mayors invited from across the US for a "summit" on food access and affordability. Emanuel announced the visit over the weekend. (Above: Mrs. Obama visiting a Philadelphia supermarket in 2010, as she unveiled the Healthy Food Financing Initiative)

Traveling with Mrs. Obama to Chicago will be members of her Let's Move! team, including Executive Director Dr. Judy Palfrey and the mastermind behind the campaign, Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives Sam Kass. Like Mrs. Obama, Kass is a Chicago native, and worked on local food policy initiatives while he was the Obamas' private chef during the years when President Obama was a US Senator. UPDATE, Oct. 24: The East Wing announced that Mrs. Obama will attend a campaign fundraiser at 12:55 PM in Detroit before arriving in Chicago for the food desert summit.

The schedule of events...
"Mayors from across the country will be gathered in Chicago for a mayoral summit where they will share best practices and explore new strategies that leaders can implement to support communities that lack the food they need," noted the East Wing. The list of Mayors has not been released.

At 2:45 PM, "Mrs. Obama and the mayors will visit a Walgreens that was expanded to include produce and other basic grocery staples," according to the East Wing, where the First Lady "will be delivering the closing remarks for a mayoral summit on access to healthy, affordable food."

Walgreens, headquartered in Chicago, is the largest pharmacy chain in the US. In July, Mrs. Obama announced that Walgreens, as well as SUPERVALU, Walmart and independent regional retailers will be opening or expanding more than 1,500 stores to serve approximately 9.5 million people in communities that currently lack access to healthy and affordable foods, including fruits and vegetables.

Walgreens executives are expected to announce on Tuesday that the chain will be sponsoring farmers markets at various locations, a project that the East Wing has been working on for months. The store Mrs. Obama will visit "is one of 10 prototype stores that helped launch Walgreens’ commitment," said the East Wing.

At 3:50 PM, "Mrs. Obama and Mayor Emanuel will visit Iron Street Urban Farms, a 7-acre site on Chicago’s south side that produces local, healthy, and sustainable food year-round," according to the East Wing. Iron Street is the Chicago headquarters for Growing Power, an urban farm and agriculture consultancy located in Milwaukee, WI.

Founder and CEO Will Allen is considered one of the world's leading experts on urban agriculture and food access. He joined Mrs. Obama at the White House in February of 2010 for the formal launch of the Let's Move! campaign. Walmart, the largest private-sector partner for Mrs. Obama's Let's Move! campaign, awarded Allen a $1 million grant in September.

Iron Street "hires local residents to learn about and work on the land, and sells to local restaurants and markets," noted the East Wing.

The Healthy Food Financing Initiative...
Also traveling to Chicago with Mrs. Obama will be HHS’s Assistant Secretary for Health Dr. Howard Koh, and Matt Josephs with the US Department of Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, which has made grants of $25 million to food desert projects under the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI), a fund that finances grocery markets and other food-access projects. IFF, a Chicago-based non-profit lender, was one of the awardees, and received a $3 million grant.

The East Wing noted that "in February 2010, Mrs. Obama traveled to Philadelphia where she announced the Healthy Food Financing Initiative, a multi-million dollar public and private investment fund to improve access to healthy food. The President’s 2012 Budget proposes funding for the multi-year initiative to increase the availability of affordable, healthy foods in underserved urban and rural communities."

The Administration has requested $330 million in funding for FY2012. Congress declined to fund the HFFI for FY 2010 and FY 2011.

Emanuel, inaugurated as Mayor last May, ran on a platform that included components of Mrs. Obama's childhood obesity campaign. Chicago is one of more than 550 municipalities in the US that have joined Let's Move Cities and Towns, an initiative that encourages leaders to adopt Mrs. Obama's campaign citywide. This summer, Emanuel convened a meeting of grocery CEOS in Chicago to discuss food deserts.

After her day of food policy events, Mrs. Obama will headline a fund-raiser for the President's 2012 re-election campaign in the evening. It will be held at Plumbers Hall.

*White House photo.